Former councilwoman given Oceanside MLK award

OCEANSIDE  Former Oceanside Councilwoman Colleen O’Harra has been awarded the 2012 City of Oceanside Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service award for her extensive community service spanning much of the past three decades.

The award was presented Saturday at the annual MLK Birthday Celebration at the MiraCosta College concert hall. The honor each year recognizes someone who exemplifies the ideals and teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr.

The event was hosted by the North San Diego County Branch of the NAACP.

O’Harra, a retired attorney, served on the City Council from 1992 to 2000. She was a member of the city’s Planning Commission for three years before her time on the council. She was president of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce in 1986, and helped start Harbor Days, for which she served as chairwoman from 1986 to 1992 and again from 2001 to 2009.

She founded the Women’s Resource Center, which helps victims of domestic violence, in Oceanside in 1974. O’Harra also has served as a trustee on boards of the Oceanside Museum of Art and the Hospice of the North Coast. She is the co-founder of the Oceanside Charitable Foundation, where she is still a director.

O’Harra was the chairwoman for the Oceanside Unified School District bond campaign in 2008. The measure, worth $195 million for the city’s schools, passed with significant community support.

O’Harra spent her professional life as an attorney practicing land use, estate planning, elder law, personal injury and family law. She became a partner in 1989 at the law firm Greenman, Lacy, Klein, O’Harra & Heffron.

The North San Diego County Branch of the NAACP also plans to hold a Martin Luther King Prayer Breakfast in the MiraCosta cafeteria, at 7:30 a.m. Monday at 1 Barnard Drive. Tickets are $25 at the door for those 26 and older and $10 for those 25 and younger.